


An Evening in Stern Bild

by certs_up



Category: Tiger & Bunny
Genre: Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Mental Health Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-04
Updated: 2012-03-04
Packaged: 2017-11-01 03:08:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/351276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/certs_up/pseuds/certs_up
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the day Kotetsu Kaburagi resigns as Wild Tiger, anti-corruption measures cost Yuri Petrov his job. Kotetsu invites the ex-judge for a night on the town with him, Kaede, and Barnaby Brooks Jr. Pizza, ice cream, and sightseeing--what could go wrong? Yuri-centric, inspired by (not cloned from) this image: <a href="http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=big&illust_id=21175397">http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=big&illust_id=21175397</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Is Four a Crowd?

It had been an afternoon of trips back and forth, from Hero TV to this and that administrative office and back to Hero TV and back to one more office because the form was supposed to be submitted in triplicate instead of in duplicate and Agnes hadn't signed all the copies because when she was in the middle of signing them she'd been interrupted by an intern who...

Well, it had been that kind of an afternoon. Most of the time Kotetsu had managed to leave Kaede somewhere around his desk or the Heroes' break room, but he'd taken her with him to deliver the final nondisclosure agreements (Yes, in triplicate! Yes, with all the signatures!) at Justice Tower.

"Is that the last one?" Kaede asked after they'd left another different-yet-identical functionary's office, their heels on the hall floor tiles a counterpoint to her words.

"It sure is. I don't know why everybody needs so much paperwork. After more than ten years you'd think they'd know who I am--" Kotetsu punched the elevator's down button "--and that I'm not going to talk about any of that complicated legal stuff that nobody remembers anyway. But you've been having a good time, right? You saw all the Heroes, didn't you?"

"Yes, I saw everybody! And I saw where all of you work and everything, and Ryoko and Maya are going to be _soooo_ jealous!" Kaede almost danced with excitement. The elevator chimed softly as its doors opened. There was only one occupant: a man in a gray suit with a briefcase in one hand and a cardboard box under the other arm. He nodded at the two as they entered. "Wild Tiger. Miss Kaburagi."

"I'm not Wild Tiger any more, your honor."

"I'm not 'your honor' any more, Mr. Kaburagi."

Kotetsu looked shocked. "Are you resigning, too?"

"I was fired, Mr. Kaburagi. The mayor finally grew a--" glancing toward Kaede, Yuri edited out "a pair" and, as he pointedly stared at the elevator buttons, continued: "--a _spine,_ and began doing something about the corruption that's been endemic to both the Stern Bild government and Hero TV for as long as Albert Maverick was involved in them. For which," he slowly added, "I must admire him, whatever my personal interests."

"But--but," Kotetsu protested, "you're honest! You're a good judge! Why would anybody fire you?"

"I'm connected to Albert Maverick. Do you really think a man as young as I am could gain the power I hold--held--by ethical means?" He gave Kotetsu a sharp glance. "My presence here, my advancement--it was largely Albert Maverick's doing. Following Mr. Maverick's ... involuntary retirement, there's been a movement afoot to root out anything connected with him. Your partner, Mr. Brooks--if he weren't resigning voluntarily, I assure you, he himself would be receiving a pink slip in due course."

Kotetsu looked puzzled and hurt, an expression that Yuri found satisfying and yet oddly poignant. Rubbing the back of his head, Kotetsu said, "That's kind of extreme, if they'd fire him just for that."

Yuri didn't respond. The elevator's descent continued uninterrupted for a surprising number of floors--or not surprising, actually, given the lateness of the hour. Yuri was Yuri and had worked until the close of regular business, _then_ packed up his personal effects, a surprisingly time-consuming task given that his office didn't sport the usual assortment of framed family photographs, potted plants, or imported knickknacks. He was lost in thought--or, more accurately, the absence of thought, the emptiness of his circumstances finally catching up with him now that his hands were idle--when a minor explosion directly beside him made him flinch. Glancing down, he saw that Kotetsu had punched one fist into the opposite palm, and glancing up, he saw a grin topping that annoying beard.

"I know what you need!"

Yuri would have edged away, but his arm with the box under it was already pressing the elevator's wall.

Kaburagi's eyes were practically alight with excitement as he continued, "Kaede and Bunny and I are about to have a night on the town. You need to come with us!"

Yuri stared. Kaede looked at him, then at her father. "Daddy! It was going to be you and me and Mr. Barnaby!"

"So it'll be me and you and Barnaby and Judge--I mean, Mr. Petrov. The more the merrier, right?"

Kaede gave Yuri a look that estimated him as totally lacking in merriment. Yuri knew what often happened to peace officers who intervened in domestic disputes, and he held his tongue.

"It wasn't what you promised," Kaede pointed out, frowning. "You said you were going to start keeping your promises."

"And I am! I'm taking you and Barnaby out for pizza and ice cream tonight, and then we'll go sightseeing. We're just bringing Mr. Petrov along too."

Yuri found himself on the receiving end of a dubious look from a ten-year-old. As if to punctuate her anger, the elevator bounced and halted its descent, softly chiming as the door opened.

Barnaby Brooks Jr. stood in the parking facility's anteroom, highlights on his glasses half obscuring his eyes. Kaede dashed toward him. "Mr. Barnaby!"

"Kaede! Kotetsu! --And Judge Petrov. Good evening." 

Yuri nodded as he stepped out of the elevator, but before he could return Barnaby's greeting, Kotetsu was saying, "Bunny! He's not Judge Petrov anymore. They fired him! Can you believe it? Just because he knew Albert Maverick, or something like that."

Barnaby looked appropriately solemn. "Mr. Petrov. I'm sorry to hear that."

"Thank you." Before Yuri could proceed to his car, Kotetsu grabbed his coat sleeve.

"So I've asked him to come with us!" Kotetsu continued. "Because a guy who loses his job just like that needs some distraction to cheer him up."

"Really," said Barnaby, clearly taken aback. "Well, then, welcome aboard, Mr. Petrov."

"I haven't said anything about accepting," Yuri protested, trying to pull his sleeve free without being obvious about it.

"Do you have other plans?" Kotetsu asked. Yuri wondered how the man could be easygoing and incisive at the same time.

"No..." Oddly enough, Lunatic didn't have an excursion scheduled for that night. Even vigilantes took days off.

"Then it's settled!" Kotetsu finally, _finally_ released Yuri's sleeve to rub his palms together. "We'll park at my place--oh, I'd better give you directions." This last to Yuri.

Yuri shook his head. "I know where you live. I..." _Am I actually doing this?_ "I'll be all right."

"Great! See you there!"

Proceeding to his car, Yuri gathered that Barnaby had succumbed to Kaede's pleas to ride with him, and Kotetsu's expressions of disappointment were audible over the hum of ventilators from several rows away.

 _I should drive home,_ he thought as he tucked his briefcase into the trunk and, after a few tries, settled his box of personal effects in a position that seemed stable. _Just leave the whole merry lot of them to their own devices. Hell, Kaburagi's such a scatterbrain, by the time he's parked, he'll have forgotten he invited me. He'll have forgotten I even exist. His daughter will be so relieved. Probably Brooks, too._ Yuri sat at the wheel of his car for several minutes, staring at the concrete wall, thinking and yet not thinking. Of home and his mother. Of pizza and ice cream. 

Of a long drive to the outer suburbs that he didn't particularly feel like right now. Besides, he'd made a commitment. Better check that he was presentable.

Yuri had a love-hate relationship with his facial scarring. It looked dreadful; there was nothing else to say about it. His right cheek, his nose, his eyelids, and streaks on his forehead showed where fire had kissed him and made him its own. If he wanted people to see his face rather than scar tissue, a good coating of concealer was in order. But an important part of him considered that wide-ranging scar an outward and visible sign of an inward vision born of a rite of passage. He resented the need to reduce himself to a tabula rasa in order to be taken as something better than a charity case.

It was part of how Lunatic made him complete. After a long day of keeping up appearances, he could come home, have a brief session with facial cleanser and moisturizer (currently he was rather fond of extra virgin olive oil), and become _himself,_ just for a little while, before quite literally taking up the mantle of justice. It was why he'd never looked into the more durable types of concealer, the ones you could wear while swimming, or the really amazing ones that lasted for days and even then needed a solvent for removal. It was why he would never for an instant consider any form of medical treatment. 

It was why Lunatic himself bore that sign, but in a guise to inspire terror instead of disgust and pity. Fire had marked him, taught him, _shown_ him that evil was ubiquitous, that nothing remained untouched by it, and for all the pain it had brought, Yuri was grateful for the insight. He was more grateful still for the power that enabled him to act on it, the wondrous fire that brought justice, that brought death to the dealers of death.

The blind and stupid world didn't deserve to see the insignia of truth on his flesh.

So he opened the glove compartment and pulled out the portable makeup mirror he kept there. The magnification distorted his features a bit, but it served its purpose: everything seemed to be holding up fine. Yuri wasn't surprised. His concealer had lasted unretouched through exhaustingly long days that involved after-hours meetings, running errands after work, or staying late to personally deal with some unforeseen contretemps at Hero TV. He supposed it would be different if he had to perform manual labor, but his on-the-job exertions usually inspired metaphorical rather than literal sweat. This would simply be another long day. _After all, it's not as if they invited me to a sauna._

He knew where Kaburagi lived. He'd made a point of scoping out all the Heroes' homes, not that he had anticipated visiting any of them, either in propria persona or following the commands of Thanatos. What Lunatic had said that night at the Hero Academy was true: he really had no desire to fight the Heroes. Nonetheless, there was always the possibility they would stand in need of the justice only Lunatic could deliver. The Heroes were all good-hearted people: Lunatic often questioned their judgment, but Yuri never doubted their sincerity. Even good people, however, could fall into evil deeds, and their status and connections would make it easier for them to evade regular channels of justice.

_You'd know, wouldn't you, Yuri?_

Yuri drowned this thought in the engine's revving as he started his car.

* * * * *

Not only did Kaede score a ride to Kotetsu's with Barnaby, she shared the back seat with him when Kotetsu drove them to the pizza place. Yuri didn't envy Barnaby his popularity with children in general or Kaede in particular. Not that Kaede was unpleasant; Barnaby just seemed nonplussed at the unending focus on him, him, him, with the occasional foray into what Kaede's friends thought about him and his role on Hero TV. Kotetsu's intermittent efforts to redirect the conversation were almost laughably ineffectual, and he finally abandoned them. Nonetheless, he didn't look particularly upset about playing second fiddle to Barnaby not only with the world at large but with his daughter. Yuri mulled at this a bit before concluding that it made sense: From what he had gathered, Kotetsu was retiring specifically to devote himself to being a father, so he'd be seeing a good bit of Kaede in the future, and vice versa. Barnaby Brooks Jr. might well be vanishing from her life. _Carpe diem_ was probably not yet part of Kaede's vocabulary, but she was practicing it all the same.

This last thought hadn't had time to settle properly into shape when Kotetsu grinned as he turned the steering wheel. "Okay, we're here! Next stop, Pizza Out, where they let the pizzas out at night, for happy folks to take a bite!"

It wasn't just the advertising jingle that made Yuri wince. It was his knowledge of how Pizza Out had scored on its latest health inspection. That one was, admittedly, an improvement over the one they'd failed only a week before, apparently due to communication gaps attributable to an influx of immigrant staff, but--

"Come on, Mr. Petrov." Kotetsu had gotten out while Yuri was lost in recollections of the inspector's specifics on improper food storage, improper disposal of refuse, and personal cleanliness citations. "We don't want to leave you behind."

Yuri got out. "If you're going to take me out to eat like this," he said, "for goodness' sake, call me Yuri." He glanced toward Kaede and Barnaby. "The lot of you."

Kaede cocked her head, puzzled. "Yuri?"

"That's Mr. Yuri for you, honey," Kotetsu said gently.

But Kaede shook her head. "I mean, is that his--is that your name? Sir?"

Yuri drew a hasty breath between his teeth. "We haven't been properly introduced, have we?" The _Really, Kotetsu_ look that he gave her father was usually reserved for disturbances that led to ejection from his court. Perhaps as a side effect of having encountered milder versions of it in damage fine proceedings, Kotetsu froze, then recoiled a pace.

Barnaby stepped into the breach. "If I may. Mr. Petrov, allow me to introduce Miss Kaede Kaburagi. Miss Kaburagi, Mr. Yuri Petrov, lately of the Stern Bild Justice Bureau."

Kaede gave the whole procedure a deer-in-the-headlights stare, until Barnaby gently prompted, "The lady offers her hand first."

"Oh!" Kaede extended her hand, and as Yuri carefully took it, she said, "I'm pleased to meet you, Mr.--uh, Mr. Yuri."

"The pleasure is mine, I assure you."

"Well, then!" Kotetsu reached for Kaede's shoulder but managed to clap her neck instead, to her evident annoyance. "Let's get inside before all the good tables are gone."

* * * * *

They ended up at a booth rather than a table, Yuri between Kotetsu and a wall, and opposite Barnaby. Whatever else might be said of Kotetsu, no one could fault him for a lack of enthusiasm--or generosity. "So, I'm thinking a couple of medium pizzas with _everything._ " As Yuri was eyeing the list of potential toppings with mild incredulity, Kotetsu continued, "As in _everything!_ Oh, and double anchovies!"

In perfect unison, Yuri and Barnaby said, "No anchovies." Kotetsu didn't notice the startled glances that the two exchanged; he was distracted by Kaede's follow-up: "Daddy! _Nobody_ likes anchovies!"

"Hey, I like anchovies." Kotetsu looked hurt. "Fine, only one with everything and double anchovies. You two wet blankets can share a ... hm ... how about a Sweets to the Sweet: 'Our Super Deluxe becomes an even sweeter deal with added red peppers and a crushed pineapple glaze!'"

"Sounds interesting," said Barnaby.

"Fine by me," said Yuri, who generally was all right with pizza toppings other than anchovies, though he found most vegetables bland. While Kotetsu and Kaede proceeded to negotiate further the toppings of the "everything" pizza, Barnaby turned to Yuri.

"I'm sorry about your job," he said. "I suppose it's a little soon to ask if you've thought about looking elsewhere for employment. But I guess there are plenty of law offices who'd welcome someone with your background."

Barnaby had meant this as optimistic speculation, but Yuri shook his head.

"I'm not ... all that well-regarded in the local legal community. Not that anyone doubts my probity, but it's generally recognized that I didn't get where I am on my own merits. People who aren't even old enough to run for president don't achieve senior judgeships in the normal course of events. I was..." Yuri regarded his fingers thoughtfully "...a tool of Albert Maverick's. He was behind--I wish I could say he was behind only my rapid advancement, but really, everything."

"Everything?"

"Not my decision to study law. That was something I'd wanted since I was pretty young. Not my law degree or my score on the bar exam; there's a limit to how many strings even Maverick would try pulling. But he made it possible for me to go to law school, and he was rather direct about my potential usefulness as long as I did well. He was also ... sufficiently direct about the consequences if I didn't." _My, that sounds nicer than saying he had me by enough balls to furnish a pool hall._

"I'm sorry. I..." Barnaby looked around uncomfortably. "I thought the world of Albert Maverick while he was alive, and now that he's gone, I seem to find new things that I'd rather not know about him every time I turn around."

"Maverick was cagey about who got carrots and who got sticks. He had no reason to threaten you. It was to his advantage not to, in fact; it's axiomatic that people will work harder to earn a reward than to avoid a punishment. For various reasons--" and Yuri's tone turned bitter "--I needed to know more than he cared to safeguard with positive reinforcement alone."

Barnaby, who had spent his entire recollected life an only child, had the sudden impression that he'd just encountered a jealous, and somewhat antagonistic, older sibling.

"But you did merit a lot on your own," he said. "Your legal degree, like you said, and your record as a judge. Everybody knows Judge Petrov is fair and trustworthy. Albert Maverick didn't give that to you. You earned it. You went out of your way to help me back when I was trying to learn about Ourobouros. And..." Barnaby hesitated, looking down: "you were the one who got the clearances lined up so I could see my full records, the real ones." He looked up again. "That meant a lot to me."

Now it was Yuri who looked down. "There was no reason you shouldn't have, and every reason you should. It was my job to see that the Heroes were treated fairly."

"I'm grateful all the same."

The server brought drinks and breadsticks and took Kotetsu's order for pizza, which had become quite detailed. Double anchovies on only half of the notorious "everything" numbered among its features.

Waiting for the pizzas, Yuri was content to munch breadsticks, sip his blueberry tea, and let the others' conversation eddy around him. Most of it focused on the future. Kotetsu wanted to reconnect with his family, and Kaede in particular. Now that Barnaby knew about the places he'd _really_ been during the past twenty-odd years, he planned to revisit them, to see if they'd jog more latent memories. After some prodding--for really, he hadn't had time to contemplate the matter--Yuri decided he wanted to reacquaint himself with the museums and zoos in the area. After he'd spent a few days catching up on his sleep.

The pizzas were interesting. That the "everything" pizza would be--though perhaps not in the best sense--went without saying. To Yuri, it looked as if it should have been prepared in a deep dish ... one labeled "Fido." Kotetsu wanted it at his and Kaede's end of the table, an arrangement that suited Yuri excellently. He and Barnaby started on a pizza that was at least a bit more normal looking. 

It hadn't occurred to Yuri that a Sweets to the Sweet pizza would be, literally, sweet. He'd never before eaten pineapple as a pizza topping, and he found he rather liked it. After a couple of slices, he worked up the nerve to try the non-anchovy half of what he had mentally dubbed the Heinz 57. (Kotetsu seemed determined to finish off the anchovy half single-handed, anyway.) After mulling the matter over (and a great deal of chewing), Yuri decided that while he didn't regret trying so many flavors and textures simultaneously, he didn't particularly want to repeat the experience. Another slice of Sweets to the Sweet made a good chaser.

"Come on, Bunny, try it!"

"No, really--"

"Yuri tried a slice!"

"That was very gracious of him."

"Half a slice!"

Kaede slipped her arm across the table and helped herself to another slice of Sweets to the Sweet. Kotetsu made an aggrieved noise. "Kaede! Don't you want to help Daddy eat the pizza we put together?"

"I did eat a slice of it. I like this one better."

 _So much for custom pizza,_ Yuri thought dryly.

"Yuri? Want another?"

"I'm saving room for dessert."

"This is a masterpiece! Why doesn't anybody want more?"

"It's your pizza de résistance," said Barnaby, as if that explained everything. Yuri stared, impressed. During the five-minute explanation that Kotetsu required, Yuri's respect for Barnaby's command of the language increased a hundredfold. He even forgave the man for having demonstrated it with such an outrageous pun.

When the server brought his change, Kotetsu was alternately eating the last remaining slice of the Heinz 57 and extolling the virtues of their next stop, a relatively new ice cream parlor not too far from Apollon Media. Yuri wondered how the man could talk about food, never mind contemplate eating more, after the meal he had just downed, then reflected on his own day. Lunch had been a wrap (whose contents he no longer recalled) held with one hand while he scribbled on sticky notes with the other. Granted, Kotetsu had resigned voluntarily and given notice rather than having been summarily flung out onto the street like floor sweepings (Yuri was not going to lie and tell himself that he was not bitter), but it was nonetheless easy to imagine a day thick with paperwork and bureaucratic misunderstandings, particularly given that, as a Hero, Wild Tiger was answerable to both Apollon Media and the Justice Bureau, as well as individual sponsors. Perhaps he had skipped lunch.

"Time to rock and roll!" Coins clinked and rattled, weighting Stern Bild currency at the other end of the table as Kotetsu left a tip and levered himself out of the booth in a single gesture. "Real Real Real Ice Cream awaits!"

"Hey, not so fast," said Barnaby, whose napkin apparently had been heartless enough to fall on the floor while Kotetsu and Kaede were already halfway to the exit. Yuri downed the last of his tea and rose, glancing sideward at...

at...

 _Kotetsu, really ... you call that a gratuity?_ Yuri shook his head. He suspected it was poor arithmetic rather than stinginess or dissatisfaction with the service that accounted for a single, small-denomination bill lying under the specie, but still. He dug out his wallet, hastily slid a bill under the side of his plate, and glanced up ... just in time to see Barnaby doing the same thing. Which would have been all right, but at that point _Barnaby_ glanced up, and their eyes met.

Both men hastily averted their gazes, re-pocketed their wallets, and sidled out of the booth. _Well, somebody's getting one hell of a tip._ Kotetsu waved at them from the door. "Hey, are you two coming or what?"


	2. Once in a Blue

"No!" Kotetsu lunged in front of Yuri, waving his arms. "NO NO NO!"

Yuri recoiled. There were many topics on which he had anticipated Kotetsu might harangue him. His choice of ice cream had not been among them. 

"I can't believe anybody would come to a place that has a hundred and five flavors--"

"A hundred and three, sir," the teen behind the counter politely corrected him.

"Whatever! You even said it's been more than ten years since the last time you had an ice cream cone, and you come to a place like this, and you order _vanilla?!_ NO! _Nobody_ comes to Real Real Real Ice Cream and orders vanilla!"

Several scoop scrapes exposing the bottom of the large compartment labeled "vanilla" clearly testified otherwise, but Yuri knew an argument impervious to logic when he saw it. Kotetsu stood like a sentinel before the counter, blocking Yuri's view of the, well, the more _vanilla_ flavors. Pointing toward the far end of the store, he said, "Now go find something _special_ to match the special occasion we're celebrating."

Yuri gave Kotetsu one of his trademark I'm-not-smiling sideward glances as he wandered down the counter. Barnaby and Kaede were at the other end, where Kaede was transparently killing time waiting for Barnaby to make a choice so she could have the same thing. Yuri had no real preference and wondered what would best serve to keep the peace.

Finally he motioned a server over. "Blue Highways. Single scoop. Sugar cone."

Kotetsu blinked. For all his concern with something "special," he was evidently unacquainted with blue ice cream. "That color doesn't even look like food."

Yuri accepted the cone and faced Kotetsu holding it to one side of his chest. "It matches my tie."

Kotetsu cocked his head. "But Yuri, that doesn't look like food either..."

Yuri had ordered the flavor on a whim--he too was previously unacquainted with blue ice cream--and on sampling it was pleasantly surprised to find that, contrary to its appearance, it tasted nothing like a breath mint. In fact, he liked it. Anything so close to the color of his tie couldn't be particularly healthy--he suspected the dye would cause cancer in cockroaches, or at least make them glow in the dark--but he had long ago lost interest in the dangers of artificial additives, preservatives, and all the other chemicals that food was ostensibly healthier without. There was very little point in keeping his metabolism pristine when he was unlikely to survive to old age.

Kaede had been acquiring an impressive collection of tiny plastic spoons in the process of sampling flavors. Yuri wondered if she'd OD on sugar before Barnaby made his selection, then shook his head. He remembered the capacity he'd had for sweets at her age, how he'd enjoyed a birthday cake that was mostly frosting, how his father had laughed and put even more honey into little Yuri's tea than into his own. Kaede would be fine.

Kotetsu, now... 

While the server at the far end was scooping up identical singles of spumoni for Kaede and Barnaby, Kotetsu was supervising the construction of what amounted to a Dagwood sandwich on a sugar cone. Yuri had been watching Kaede's sampling rather than observing the particular flavors Kotetsu had selected, but there seemed to be a great deal of chocolate, numerous solid inclusions (fudge? toffee? M&Ms?)--"And sprinkles!" Kotetsu demanded. "I want sprinkles!"

Kotetsu wanted sprinkles. Kotetsu was pushing 40, eating a triple ice cream cone on top of most of a medium pizza (with double anchovies), and wanted sprinkles.

Evidently the man had a death wish.

"Now, _this_ \--" Kotetsu held his masterpiece at arm's length, directly in front of Yuri's face "-- _this_ is a special ice cream cone. Look! I got sprinkles!"

"So I see," Yuri murmured. "Shall we sit down?"

"Hero TV's on!" Kaede exclaimed, pointing across the street. One of the huge displays that Apollon Media supported was indeed broadcasting Hero TV--the last thing Yuri needed at the moment. 

Perhaps Barnaby felt the same, for he said, "It's a rerun. I wasn't called that night."

"Oh." As Kaede's face fell, the three adults glanced into the half-enclosed dining area across from the counter. It had an indoor-sized TV screen.

"Hey, it's _Jackass,_ " said Kotetsu. "That's funny."

Yuri actually paled. "Let's sit outside and enjoy the fresh air." The prospect of watching _Jackass_ put him in need of it.

It was classic ice cream parlor furniture, peppermint-striped cushions and a circular tabletop, curls of iron supporting everything. Yuri sat with his back to the street and Hero TV, Kotetsu to his right, Barnaby to his left, Kaede in front of him. "Mr. Yuri, what does your ice cream taste like?"

 _Didn't you get a sample?_ Aloud, he said, "Fruit. With a little mint, I think."

"Mine tastes like fruit too, but that's because it's got fruit in it." Kaede evidently decided that her attention was better devoted to eating food than discussing it. Like Barnaby--and perhaps naturally, rather than entirely in emulation--she ate rather demurely, sometimes glancing at Barnaby, sometimes to the screen beyond Yuri's shoulder, where Hero TV was playing its litany of chewed-over action.

Kotetsu was entirely focused on his food. Yuri wasn't surprised that the Hero who always bites his candy also bit his ice cream, but the man's way of eating held a sort of train wreck fascination. Yuri knew to carefully press his ice cream into the cone, so that ice cream and cone maintained their shape as a single entity for most of their brief existence. Kotetsu was unconcerned with such formalities and dove in with an enthusiasm Yuri associated with eating contests and a few homeless people he'd observed stumbling on edible windfalls. Well, it wasn't polite to stare. He made a mental note to check again in a bit and see if any ice cream remained in the cone when Kotetsu got down to it. Or perhaps to see if the man had collapsed in a diabetic coma.

A girl wearing a loose-fitting dress and a rabbit-head backpack strolled out of the ice cream shop. She was licking a single scoop of vanilla in a sugar cone, and for a moment Yuri's thoughts flicked to a wistful _That could have been me._ Inside, what appeared to be a family was being served, and a gaggle of teenagers were sitting in the indoor area, pointing and laughing at whatever comedy of errors _Jackass_ was committing this week. And Yuri was, by his own estimate, sitting with two idiots and a child, determined to make his ice cream cone last. 

Last? _Why prolong the agony?_

Except it wasn't. It really wasn't. Not that Kotetsu couldn't be annoying--Kotetsu could be very annoying, an opinion in which Yuri felt certain Kaede and Barnaby concurred--but he was also open-hearted and open-handed and genuinely concerned about the welfare of all his guests--even Yuri, whom he scarcely knew and whom, if anything, he had more reason to avoid than to welcome, given that their relationship heretofore had mostly consisted of Yuri's assessing damage fines against him. (The whole business of Lunatic was a separate matter.) And Barnaby--Yuri almost felt a rapport with him. He was quiet and thoughtful, perhaps a little self-absorbed, but Yuri suddenly realized that if he ever had a friend, that was what he would want: someone with not too much to say, but the ability to discuss what really needed saying; someone who would tolerate his foibles (Yuri would admit to having foibles, even from the perspective of a good friend) and be thoughtful or at worst amused if he seemed a bit odd. And Kaede--Yuri hadn't spent an appreciable amount of time around children since he was a child himself and still wasn't sure what to make of her, but when she wasn't irritated with her father or obsessively starry-eyed over her idol, she was pleasant enough.

They were boring, ordinary people, and Yuri wouldn't want to spend every evening in their company. But as a diversion, it wasn't bad.

It really wasn't half bad. He wished he could bring a little of it home...

"Mr. Yuri?" Kaede's voice snapped him out of his reverie. "Are you okay?"

"Hm?" Yuri emerged from the depths of thought blinking and slightly disoriented. "Yes, fine, thank you."

"You looked sad. Don't you like your ice cream any more?"

"It's fine. I was just thinking about my mother, and wondering if she'd enjoy one of these."

"You have a mom?"

"No one gets into this world without one," Yuri told her, and he immediately winced. _Really, Yuri, can't you find a better target for your rapier wit than a ten-year-old?_

Kaede apparently took the response at no worse than face value. "Do you get to see her often?"

"Every day."

"Ohhh!" Kaede's eyes went wide, delighted. "What's she like?"

_Completely batshit insane, living over a decade in the past, unable to acknowledge even the most basic reality of her circumstances..._

"She's very ill," Yuri finally told his ice cream.

"I bet you take good care of her." This was from Kotetsu, who had indeed eaten his triple-decker down to nothing but cone, of which he'd taken a bite or two.

Yuri mentally reviewed the latest incident: a glass aimed at him shattered against the wall and missed him by the proverbial mile, but it had been thrown with such force that a fragment ricocheted and drew blood from her face. Yuri would have sworn his heart had stopped for a moment.

"I do my best," he said, looking bleak.

An electronic crackle behind him drew his attention, and Yuri actually felt grateful for the distraction of Hero TV.

"And now, Hero TV goes to live coverage of events confronting our Heroes. A team of NEXTs have taken hostages in three separate locations."

In spite of himself, Yuri turned to look at the screen. He had barely registered what appeared to be several civilians tossed into the air when the broadcast cut to an aerial view of Stern Bild. Animated pointers indicated where the action was taking place.

"North. East. South," Barnaby murmured, scanning the screen.

Kotetsu looked up from his empty sugar cone. "And we're on the west side," he said regretfully. "I hope everybody's okay."

"Rock Bison is plowing through the gigantic pile of earth the NEXTs have used to entrap their hostages," the announcer continued, "while on the east side, Sky High is fighting a terrific battle to rescue more hostages from the air geyser where they're being held high above the ground."

Earth and air? Yuri licked his ice cream and sensed a trend.

A gravelly, distorted voice overrode the announcer's. "We control the things that are at the foundation," it informed the world. "You do not know where we will strike next, and you are too blind to see how."

"Meanwhile," the announcer continued, "on top of a south side parking deck, a family is surrounded by fire--oh, and look at who's just arrived on the scene! It's Blue Rose! Her magnificent ice is smothering the flames! Blue Rose gains three hundred points!"

Fire.

A crawl on the bottom of the screen gave more details of the culprits' demands. They seemed to be concerned about corruption in Stern Bild. Yuri wanted to roll his eyes. Albert Maverick was dead. Yuri Petrov and Barnaby Brooks Jr. were out on the street. Who the hell did they think should be running things, Mother Teresa? 

Kotetsu crunched his sugar cone. "It's weird, just watching," he said softly.

Yuri turned back toward the table, where he and Barnaby exchanged glances.

"Earth. Air. Fire," said Yuri.

Barnaby nodded. "They're not finished."

"Indeed."

"But authorities haven't yet located the center of operations for this team of--oh, no! Another earth eruption has pushed Rock Bison away! Meanwhile, Sky High has rescued one of the hostages from the air geyser and gained a hundred points! But it's become a moving target!"

The next events occupied too much of the surroundings and occurred too fast for Yuri to take in. What he knew was that the unoccupied table and chairs adjacent rattled and tumbled over, lifted and swept by _something_ mostly invisible, a translucent mass that became a curtain between the group and the ice cream store entrance, then swept around them in a circle obscuring their view of the sidewalk, the street, and the screen with Hero TV. In less than two seconds they were completely surrounded--to a height of seven or eight feet--by what Yuri suddenly realized was water.

A perfectly vertical wall of water.

All four had risen mostly without realizing it, Kaede to cling to Kotetsu as she gulped down the remains of her ice cream. "Daddy, what _is_ it?"

"Water," said Barnaby. "The element that was missing."

"Huh?" said Kotetsu. "Missing? What?"

"The NEXTs on the live broadcast," said Yuri. "They're taking hostages by controlling the four traditional elements: earth, water, air, and fire. It appears we've been taken hostage by a NEXT who controls water." A final bite of his ice cream cone remained, and Yuri quickly stuffed it into his mouth. No trash can was available for the paper cone that had held it, but Yuri gave it a wistful look before letting it drop to the table. At the moment they had more pressing concerns than littering, and he certainly wasn't going to contaminate his pocket with something that harbored melted ice cream.

"What?" said Kotetsu. "Hostage? _What?_ " He shook his fist at the wall of water surrounding them. "Hey, you! You can't take Heroes hostage."

"We're not Heroes," Barnaby reminded him dryly.

"You can't take ex-Heroes hostage!" 

Barnaby put his hand to his forehead.

Curious, Yuri extended a hand and wet his fingertips. Except for being vertical, it acted exactly like water, rippling a bit where he broke the surface, dripping off his fingers (vertically; the forces of nature were in effect at least to that degree) as he pulled them away. Yuri gazed at the water on his hand, then smelled it. "City water. If we drown, at least we'll be clean." He had wondered if it was seawater.

"We're not going to drown!" Kotetsu declared. "How much water can there be? I'm punching our way out!" He gently disengaged himself from Kaede, and before she or anyone could try to stop him, waded fist-first into the wall of water. Kaede edged over to stand near Barnaby, who had pulled out his cell and was dialing 911.

Yuri scowled at his surroundings. _If I weren't in the company of these idiots, I could..._

Kotetsu staggered back, sodden and battered, gasping. "There's a lot of water!"

"Yes." Barnaby had gotten through. "Yes, that's correct. Actually, we're surrounded by water. ...Oh, have you? Well, can someone--? ...Yes, I see. Well, thank you very ... No. No, that's all right. Nobody needs medical attention at the moment."

He clicked the phone shut. "Someone's already called in about flooding in this area." 

" _Flooding!_ " said Kotetsu, as he wrung out his hat. "So did they say anything about sending help?"

"Hero TV has indicated they intend to send someone, but with the emergencies in the other quarters of the city, it's a little hard to say--"

"Daddy!" Kaede tugged at his sodden sleeve, touching it as little as possible. "Can't you get us out of this?"

"We really should take action," Barnaby agreed. "I'd like to look for the NEXT who's causing this--"

"While I get Kaede and Yuri to safety!" Even in soaking wet street clothes, Kotetsu was suddenly Wild Tiger, Crusher for Justice. He jammed on his hat, rivulets flowing from his hair down his face and neck. "Let's go!"

And before Yuri could say, "Let's wait just a--" Barnaby and Kotetsu had activated their powers, Barnaby leaping almost straight up in a streak of blue and rebounding off a building before being lost to sight. Without so much as a by-your-leave, Kotetsu grabbed Kaede under one arm and Yuri under the other and made a similar leap, whisking them up over the water, over the giant Apollon screen--

Yuri sorely--literally sorely--wished Lunatic were the one getting him out of there. Kotetsu's leaps were powerful, but the ricochets off walls and windowsills were bone-jarring. Yuri gritted his teeth and closed his eyes--it wasn't as if he could do anything anyway, for the moment--and Kotetsu made a final, mighty bound that carried them to a flat asphalt roof. Unfortunately, between the darkness and the unaccustomed unbalanced weight he was carrying, Kotetsu's last effort fell inches short: his toe caught on the edge of the roof and, unable to break his fall with his arms, he faceplanted on the top of a ventilation shaft, grunting as the metal opened a gash in his forehead. The impact knocked the wind out of all three of them.

Yuri shoved himself from under Kotetsu's arm, grimacing, then rubbed his neck; it didn't suffer this sort of abuse when Lunatic mounted rooftops. By the time he'd gotten to his feet, Kotetsu was also trying to rise, and Kaede was shaking him. "Daddy! Daddy, are you okay?"

"I'b fide ... I'm fine, honey," Kotetsu said, finally separating his face from the roof. "What about you?"

"Daddy, you're _bleeding!_ "

"It's okay. Daddy's used to getting minor injuries. Yuri, what about you?"

"I'm fine," Yuri replied. He was watching the water in the street below. What had been an enclosure around their table closed and became a whirlpool, swirling the table and chairs with an understated, distant clacking.

Kotetsu grinned triumphantly despite the blood running over his eye and down his cheek. "Looks like we're safe up here." He slowly turned, taking in their surroundings: a wide, flat roof with a few more ventilator shafts, though the light was so poor it was hard to be certain. "That'll show that water."

Yuri gazed at Kotetsu--that wound would need seeing to--but found the water below a more compelling sight. Kotetsu was hugging his daughter and repeating reassuring nothings as the whirlpool drew even more water to itself (Yuri wondered what giant tap had been opened to make this possible), then began changing shape, spreading along the wall. As his blue glow vanished, Kotetsu continued, "It's just water, after all. We'll be fine here. Water can't flow uph--"

Yuri tapped Kotetsu's free arm and pointed downward. The mass of water spread itself against the building--against the entire _side_ of the building--and began to ascend.

"I think," said Yuri, "you've underestimated our opponent."

"Let's scope out the area," said Kotetsu. Still with an arm around Kaede, and now with blood sealing his left eye shut, he began walking the perimeter of the roof. Yuri followed, resisting the urge to provide a little supplementary illumination. He doubted it would offer any real improvement in their circumstances. Kotetsu's Hundred Power was exhausted for the next sixty minutes. Adjacent buildings were too far away to jump, particularly with Kaede in tow. When the three returned to the point where they'd initially landed, the water had continued its ascent and was now within a few feet of the rooftop.

"What happens when it gets up here?" Kaede whispered.

On a screen now below them, Hero TV was still broadcasting live coverage. The voice coming over the audio was distorted, the product of a device designed for just such an effect as well as what seemed to be an iffy phone connection. "Ond since yuu have failed to meet ouur demandz," it said, "we will gill our remainingg hoztagez."

"What?" said Kotetsu. "Wait! _What?_ "

"Someone's going to be getting a little visit," said Yuri under his breath. Then, aloud: "Let's get some distance between us and the edge of the roof, at least."

"Daddy, I'm scared." Kaede spoke sotto voce as they proceeded to the center of the roof.

"Let's have faith in Barnaby," Kotetsu replied. "He said he'd find the NEXT who's controlling this water."

"He said he'd look for that NEXT," Yuri murmured. "I'm sure he is. I wonder..."

_I wonder how soon it's going to reach roof level._

Kotetsu knelt in the middle of the roof, still holding Kaede. Yuri stood as near as he could bring himself to; the girl was close to tears, and it was disturbing.

_As disturbing as the mass of water that NEXT is controlling?_

The water had in fact risen higher than roof level, a bizarre nearly-transparent wall that seemed to be gathering itself as if preparing to attack. _Well, he did say they were going to kill the hostages._

"It'll be okay," Kotetsu said, though he sounded unconvinced. "Barnaby's doing everything he can."

Yuri glanced from the two to the impossible wall of water with quiet inner turmoil. _I should fly. I should. I could. Let the water drown them or wash them over the other edge. Let--_

He couldn't. For that matter, Lunatic couldn't. Kotetsu and Kaede hadn't harmed him, hadn't harmed anyone.

Didn't deserve to die.

The water rose still more, now taller than Yuri's own height, and as Kotetsu and Kaede gasped in unison, it rushed toward them--and Yuri stepped forward.

Above them, unseen, the moon went red.


	3. Loss of Face

"Yuri, no!" Kotetsu's voice was practically a scream, and a small, rational part of his mind pointed out that Yuri was at least meeting his doom like a man. But before it could point out that Kotetsu was too, sparks and trailers of blue shot through the air.

Kotetsu's good eye went wide. Yuri stood in front of them, back straight, head high, arms well out from his sides. Blue flames danced off his fingertips, then lashed out to encircle the group, leapt up to meet the rush of water. Suddenly the world was roaring around them, white and invisible with steam.

Only half consciously, Kotetsu noticed another blue glow. Kaede had, without realizing it, activated her own Hundred Power. Fortunately, she was clinging to his vest more than to him, or he might have added a few broken ribs to his injuries.

"Yuri." Kotetsu's voice was a whisper. He silenced himself immediately. He had no idea what sort of control Yuri had over his power, and distracting him would probably be a Very Bad Idea. So he stared, wondering how long their salvation would last.

When some of the steam had cleared, Yuri was apparently satisfied that things were, at least temporarily, in a holding pattern--flames a bit more than head high all around, water hissing as it hit them and evaporated. He kept his arms as they were, miniature tongues of flame occasionally licking out from his fingers, but slowly turned to regard the perimeter he had created.

"I can keep this up for a while," he said, his normal tone almost inaudible over the flames and their effect on the water. "Just stay put, both of you."

"It's hot," Kaede whispered. Steam rolled in.

"We're going to be okay," Kotetsu assured her. "Yuri's protecting us while Barnaby looks for the--"

There was a hissing roar as water gushed from above, as if poured from a chorus of buckets, and spattered against the asphalt.

Yuri bit off a curse as he glanced up. He could see only steam but could guess what was happening. His flames were now at the greatest height he could maintain in the current configuration. The NEXT was simply adding more water from all sides, pouring it on harder and faster over a cushion of steam that in effect insulated it from the worst of the heat, so it kept its liquid form--

He gasped with pain as some of it hit him. It was dangerously hot, and his street clothes offered no real protection. He felt his cheeks reddening with anger. He was not, he was _not_ going to let some psychotic, murdering NEXT hoist him with his own petard.

_All right, so what ARE you going to do?_

"Yuri?" Kotetsu's voice was timid. "Can--ow! Can you--?"

"Whatever it is, no, Kotetsu, I can't. This is as high as I can keep the flames, as long as I've got only two hands." He thought about using flames from his eyes, but knew from experience that that was wishful thinking; mowing down enemies with laser-like eyebeams was a delightful fantasy, but his eye flames were at best a short-range weapon.

The flame circle around them wavered for a moment as Kaede released her grasp on her father and ran forward. "I can do it!" she shouted. "I can use your power! Please, Mr. Yuri, teach me how!"

Yuri stared, and then he remembered. Kotetsu had mostly shielded Kaede from the media--she was only ten, after all--but a couple of interviews had made it to the airwaves, and she had mentioned her chameleon-like ability to copy the powers of other NEXTs after touching them.

Another gout of water splashed down, drenching both of them. Yuri winced, and Kaede cried out when it struck her--it was that hot. She unthinkingly pressed herself against Yuri's body, holding him in an embrace he couldn't return or repel. He didn't know if contact through his clothes would have the desired effect. Better not to take a chance.

"Touch my wrist," he told her. "There's no flame there. Hold your hands above your head, palms out--not too close together. You're trying to make a field, not a beam. And get back from me a little more--you need to be near the middle of the circle. Kaede--" he suddenly realized he was breathing hard "--Kaede, whatever you do, do it!"

Kaede bit her lip, scrunched her face--a blue glow lit her skin, and flames of the same color shot from her palms, spreading out like the crown of a tree. "Perfect!" Yuri shouted, and he felt his eyes beginning to blaze. There was something thrilling about seeing his own fire as others saw it. He hastily reined in that manifestation of his power--Kaede looked frightened, and he didn't blame her.

_Can she maintain that? Will it work, anyway?_

Apparently it was working. Flames and steam still hissed around them, but no more gouts of water rained down. Yuri glanced over at Kotetsu, and his own fire flickered when he saw the pride on the man's face.

_Why couldn't my father have...._

Yuri snapped his thoughts back to the present. Kaede looked pleased with herself, too, if a little apprehensive. After a couple of tentative gasps, she finally said, "Mr. Yuri? Is this okay? Should I do anything else?"

Yuri shook his head and smiled as reassuringly as he could. "It's fine. You're doing fine. Just hang in there."

 _But can she?_

The steam began to fade. They were in the midst of a circle of fire, and it was getting hotter. Yuri felt sweat trickle down his chest, then his abdomen, and along the line of his jaw.

_Damn it, Barnaby! She's a little girl! She can't hold her arms like that forever. Find the damn NEXT and take them out!_

The pride on Kaede's face was slowly giving way to urgency. "Mr. Yuri? My arms are starting to hurt."

Yuri nodded. "I know. I'm..." He glanced around nervously. If it had been simply a case of maintaining a ring of fire, he could do it no hands: Lunatic had done so many times, while delivering verdicts and loading his crossbow. But Lunatic had never contended with a situation like this. Because of the water, he had to renew the flames constantly, feeding them off his hands in thin streams, working them outward, making a thick layer, holding it--damn! Why wouldn't the damn water stop coming?

"You can do it, Kaede," said Kotetsu. "I know you can. You can be strong. Like a Hero!"

But her arms were trembling. Kotetsu was biting his lip. Perhaps fortunately, Kaede had her back to him. 

She was facing Yuri.

"It can't take much longer," he told her. "Don't strain at it. Just keep holding that way. Be a statue."

Kaede nodded, but her expression was that of a tired, frightened ten-year-old, and for all the anger and frustration boiling inside him, it tore at Yuri's heart.

"Barnaby's going to find that NEXT, right?" she said, her voice now a ragged whisper.

"Of course he is," Kotetsu said behind her. "We know how smart Barnaby is. He's going to capture that NEXT any minute..."

Yuri could hear the dryness in Kotetsu's mouth. Even the eternal optimist was getting discouraged.

"He's got to," said Kaede. But her voice was tight.

"He will," said Yuri, not out of his own faith in Barnaby, but because it was the most meaningful thing he could offer Kaede, whose arms were, he imagined, getting numb with fatigue. "Think how proud he'll be when we tell him you saved us." 

To his amazement and relief, Kaede actually did manage a tiny smile. "He will, won't he?"

"He will," said Yuri. His conscience scolded him for exploiting a child's infatuation with a TV idol. Yuri mentally shrugged. His conscience had worse things to hold against him for occasions when he hadn't been at risk of getting boiled like a lobster. And he kept a smile on his face while silently snarling, _Barnaby Brooks Jr., you are going to find that NEXT directly or I swear by all the gods that ever were, this evening Lunatic will be paying you a little--_

The air grew quieter. The low huff of the flames persisted, but the hiss of water going to steam...

"It sounds like the water's gone," Yuri announced. "Brace yourselves--Kaede, please, stay as you are a little longer, just in case--I'm going to make a gap in the flames, just a small one, to see if it's safe." At the opposite side of the circle the rippling blue curtain parted. There was no rush of water, no blossom of steam--only darkness. Yuri dropped the flames altogether with a soft _whoof!_ so that only the blue light from Kaede's hands remained. Yuri let his shoulders relax and started breathing again. "It's okay, Kaede. You can stop using the--"

"I can't!" Kaede cried as her elbows slowly drooped and the flames fanned downward. "I can't turn it off!"

"Don't point your hands out!" Yuri exclaimed, alarmed. He was immune to his own flames as long as they were _his,_ but once they'd attached themselves to anything else, it was another matter, as he'd learned when his power first manifested. The same was likely true when they came from Kaede. Besides, there was Kotetsu to--

To leap toward Kaede, arms outstretched. Yuri thought of his fire's affinity for human flesh. "Kotetsu, no!"

But Kotetsu grabbed his daughter in a hug that was practically a tackle, and the blue fire vanished as--Yuri suddenly remembered--her father's Hundred Power overrode her borrowed incendiary ability.

"Daddy! I was so scared!"

"Kaede, you were great! Daddy is so proud of you!"

"My arms hurt!"

"My little girl's a real Hero!"

Yuri averted his eyes and tried to tune out the gladsome reunion. He was tired, utterly drained, wet--not completely soaked through everywhere, but much, much wetter than he liked, both from the outside in and from the inside out. His hair was probably a ruin; it had partly fallen over his face and was sticking to a good bit of his right cheek. He glanced at Kotetsu, once again kneeling with Kaede crushed against him, blood still coating a streak down the left side of his face. With some difficulty, Yuri fished a damp but clean handkerchief out of a sodden pocket, carefully dipped it in a puddle--the roof, he reflected, was probably cleaner now than at any time since it had been completed--and said, "Kotetsu, let me look at that wound on your forehead."

Kotetsu grinned with his one usable eye. "It's fine, it's fine--"

But Yuri crouched in front of him, pulled away Kotetsu's stuck-down hair, and began carefully scrubbing blood away, blotting it off the eyelid and lashes. Despite the amount of blood, the wound didn't look very serious, from what Yuri could see in the half-light. Kotetsu was at least able to blink both eyes now. "Yuri, you're really--"

"Kotetsu, hold _still._ "

"Yuri, really, you don't have to--"

He didn't, but he didn't like leaving a task half done either, and he continued swabbing Kotetsu's face, switching to a clean part of the handkerchief as an area became unusable. Because the light was so low, he had to bring his face closer to Kotetsu's than normally would have felt comfortable. He wasn't thinking about Kaede until--as he scrubbed Kotetsu's cheekbone--she quietly said, "Mr. Yuri, can you see okay like that? I can push your hair--"

Because he was tired and preoccupied, he didn't react fast enough. Kaede brushed--no, pulled--the hair off his cheek, and Yuri felt the air cold against his skin. It wasn't just the sensation; the way Kaede gasped told him that water and heat and sweat had gotten the better of his concealer.

"Don't touch me!" Yuri snarled, and the words were followed by a blow--an open hand that never landed, because he froze like a marionette whose strings had been cut when he realized he had nearly struck a child.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Kaede shrank back against her father, tears starting in her eyes. "I didn't mean it! I didn't mean anything!"

Yuri nearly tripped on his own feet in his haste as he rose and backed away, whirled and staggered forward, his one thought putting distance between himself and the unthinkable. At some point not nearly far enough, his strength gave out, and he put a hand to his face. That was a mistake. More concealer, loosened by sweat from beneath and water from above, came off on his fingertips. He dropped to his knees, no longer capable of caring if one more portion of his wardrobe got soaked through.

"Hey," Kotetsu said, surprisingly close behind him. Hands descended onto his shoulders.

"Don't touch me."

"Yuri, it's just--"

"What!"

"You're awfully close to the edge of the roof. No stepping off it, okay?"

Yuri peered between his fingers over the edge that was, indeed, rather close. Barnaby Brooks Jr. was down on the pavement, waving at them. "Hey, is everybody all right up there?"

_I nearly_

"We're fine!" Kotetsu shouted back to him. "Took you long enough to get that NEXT. If it weren't for--"

Kotetsu paused in mid-sentence. He was still digesting the things he'd learned about Yuri in the past few minutes, but he realized a good bit of it was probably best kept to himself for now. "Well, anyway, there was a lot of water up here!" 

_nearly struck a_

"Sorry," Barnaby looked genuinely embarrassed. "I can't even take credit for that. The police got him through a phone trace."

_a CHILD. I nearly_

"Yuri, let's get a little further back. This is kinda creepy."

Yuri shook off Kotetsu's hand but did rise and slowly walk away, hands down, face averted.

"You're going to be okay," Kotetsu assured him.

Yuri sat on the wet asphalt and pulled his knees to himself. "Shut up and leave me alone."

"Hey, Bunny!" Kotetsu called down to the street. "You want to see about finding somebody who can get us off this roof?"

"I'm on it right now," Barnaby assured him.

"Listen, I've got some damage control to take care of up here," Kotetsu said.

"It wasn't something from Lunatic, was it? There were reports of blue flames in this area. We wondered if the NEXT was on the spot and--"

"No, no, nothing like that. Just--ah, just water damage. We'll be right here."

A moment later Kotetsu was kneeling beside him. "Yuri, it's going to be okay."

"I can't be seen with my face like this." Yuri kept a small mirror in his coat pocket, but he couldn't bring himself to pull it out and check on the progress--the degeneration--of what enabled people to see his face instead of his scar.

If he had looked up, he would have been surprised at Kotetsu's expression. It went from almost painfully sympathetic to his trademark grin. "Well, you're not the first person who can't show his face in public, you know." Kotetsu fished around in one pocket, then another, and suddenly something obtruded almost blindingly close in Yuri's vision. "Here. I don't need it anymore."

Yuri blinked, focusing. It was crumpled and--like everything else on Kotetsu's person--quite, quite damp, but it was recognizably--

"Hey, I'll put it on you," Kotetsu continued. "I've had lots of practice. More than a decade, in fact. Hm." Yuri was too numb to protest as Kotetsu pressed the mask to his face, pushing his hair aside and then smoothing it down against his cheek, over the damage Kaede's innocent gesture had revealed. He stared back as Kotetsu studied the effect of a Wild Tiger mask on a face so different from his own. "Hmmm. Hey, I know!" Kotetsu snapped his fingers, then flipped his hat off, wrung it out once more, and slipped it onto Yuri's head, pulling it down nearly to his eyebrows. "Perfect! It's a classic look that looks classic on anybody!" He reached out in a gesture that would have tousled Yuri's hair if a soggy gray-and-cream hat hadn't been on top of it, then grew solemn. "You're gonna be okay. If anybody has a problem with the way you look, they've got Wild Tiger to answer to."

Yuri would have liked to thank him but couldn't find his voice. He crossed his forearms over his knees and rested his forehead against them, feeling an odd and distant relief that he at least didn't need to apologize for getting Wild Tiger's mask wet.

Ex-Heroes made handy friends, Yuri realized. Barnaby had phoned Keith Goodman, aka Sky High, who had been at loose ends after rescuing the remaining hostages from the air geyser. (The NEXT responsible had been captured by Origami Cyclone, who had stumbled on the opportunity while working his way into a background appearance.) Now off duty--or rather, free to return to his self-imposed evening responsibility patrolling Stern Bild--Keith was happy to come to the assistance of people he still regarded as colleagues, and much faster than the fire department likely would have been. Keith was utterly nonplussed at the combination of Wild Tiger's mask and hat and the person he knew as the dignified and impeccably groomed Judge Petrov. "It's really a new look for you, really new!" he finally enthused as he set Yuri on the solid concrete of the sidewalk.

"Group hug!" Kotetsu exclaimed, one arm around Kaede's waist and the other suddenly, shockingly, on Yuri's. Barnaby pressed himself against the group on Kaede's side, and Sky High filled the gap between Yuri and Barnaby. Yuri had never been much for hugging and fortunately was spared any real effort; the others' enthusiasm compensated more than adequately for his own disorientation. Sky High soon excused himself (with a "You're welcome, and you're welcome again!"), leaving the four to salvage the remains of their evening.

"It's too early to just quit," said Kotetsu, glancing at his watch, which fortunately was waterproof (down to three meters).

"You're too wet to just go anywhere," Barnaby observed over his crossed arms. "Offhand, I'd say Kaede and Yuri are too." Barnaby had been giving Yuri's new accoutrements sideward glances--how could Yuri Petrov be where Kotetsu Kaburagi should have been?--but in addition to being too polite to say anything, he had a suspicion something was going on that he was better off not knowing, at least for now.

"Offhand, I'd agree," Yuri said quietly. It was the first time he'd spoken since being fetched down from the roof, beyond a murmured thanks to Sky High. "Kotetsu, maybe you could take me back to my car."

"Ah, Yuri, come on! The night is young. Kaede and I can go back to my place to change. I bet you can wear some more of my clothes."

_Your clothes won't do a damn thing for what really needs covering._

"Well, anyway," said Kotetsu, "let's all go back to my place and we can get dried off and changed and discuss it some more."


	4. Facing the Music

The ride to Kotetsu's was filled with non-conversation from Kotetsu and tense silence from the rest of the group. Kotetsu had no dearth of suggestions for the remainder of the evening, but the vehicle's other occupants were too busy with their own thoughts to offer satisfying responses. Kaede was bursting with a desire to tell Barnaby Brooks Jr.--and anybody else available--about the evening's adventure, but she'd quickly gathered from her father's hints that it was important not to, and she had no idea what to do about it other than fidget and huff occasionally. Barnaby was puzzled at Kotetsu's noncommunicativeness regarding what had really happened on the roof; he couldn't imagine why any of it would be a secret. He was even more puzzled regarding Wild Tiger's mask and Kotetsu's hat. He also found it a little disturbing to share the back seat with Yuri, who seemed determined to draw himself as far into the passenger side corner as he could.

Yuri's mind held a seemingly endless echo of _I nearly struck a child,_ occasionally interrupted by the reflection that Lunatic had picked a hell of an evening to take off. He looked out the window, not seeing the lights that flew by, not seeing the darkness as Kotetsu pulled into his space in the apartment building's garage.

Yuri more or less crawled out of Kotetsu's vehicle and got his bearings. His car was the next row over. And...

"Come on, Yuri." Kotetsu's voice was cloyingly close and even more cloyingly gentle. "We really are pretty close to the same size. I'll fix y--"

"You forget," Yuri interrupted, not looking at the others. "My personal effects. In my car. They include a complete change of clothing. Among other things. I'm..." He paused to catch his breath. "I am not without resources."

Kotetsu brightened up. "Well, that's great! Talk about being prepared. I'll bet you were a Boy Scout!"

"You would lose your bet," said Yuri as he headed for his car.

Kotetsu motioned Barnaby closer and whispered, "Yuri's a little ... fragile right now. Stick with him, will you? Make sure he gets his stuff to my place. Don't hurry. I need to talk to Kaede."

Barnaby nodded and turned to follow Yuri, even as Kotetsu was saying, "Just hang on, honey, Daddy's coming to get the door!"

Yuri was leaning against the back of his car, looking a bit out of it, but not so far out that he couldn't side-eye Barnaby. "Sent to retrieve me, were you? I assure you, I have no intention of leaving the premises in my current state."

Barnaby held his hands up, palms out. "Well, I came in case you needed some helping."

"Indeed."

Barnaby had had a brief fantasy of being forced to block Yuri from making a lightning dash to Kotetsu's to change. He needn't have worried. Yuri did eventually find his keys and unlock his vehicle's trunk, but it was a surprisingly slow process for a man who had to all appearances been in normal health less than an hour previously. Having opened the trunk, Yuri sighed and contemplated its contents for a full thirty seconds before reaching for the cardboard box. Suddenly Barnaby was beside him, lifting it.

"I'm not helpless," Yuri snapped.

"No," Barnaby said quickly. "No, you're not. But ... I really blew it this evening. I mean, after Kotetsu got you and Kaede to safety, I was going to track down that NEXT before he could move that water much further. It didn't work that way at all. I used up my Hundred Power, tried following the water to its source ... and I couldn't. There really was flooding."

Yuri glanced at Barnaby's feet, then took a second, longer look. He hadn't noticed that his boots were wet--and so were his pants legs, nearly to the knee.

"I had to do some wading," Barnaby admitted with a self-conscious grin. "And I _still_ didn't find anything while the three of you were stuck on that roof. So, anyway--" he gave the box a little toss to better secure his grip "--since I wasn't any use there, I hope you'll let me help here."

Yuri gazed at him, seemingly without blinking. The man could have been covering condescension as easily as he could have been sincere. On reflection, Yuri decided it didn't matter. He closed his car's trunk. "Let's go."

Since Barnaby was carrying his things, Yuri walked ahead and opened the door for him. Barnaby crossed the threshold just in time for both of them to hear a reverberating shriek of " _Yes!_ " from Kotetsu's bathroom. The two exchanged puzzled glances.

"Of course I'd like to go with Mr. Barnaby to visit him in his mansion!" Kaede was shouting through the bathroom door. "I just have to finish fixing my hair!"

Yuri closed the door and took in his surroundings. The apartment was compact and spacious at the same time, with a high ceiling that Yuri reflected must make it the very devil to heat. Barnaby put the box on the floor at one end of the sofa and urged him to sit down, but Yuri shook his head. "My clothes are still wet. I'll stand, thank you."

Kotetsu approached from the other end of the long room, grinning. "Okay, Bunny, once Kaede's got herself fixed up, the two of you can go to your place. Yuri and I can join you after we've gotten changed."

Barnaby had a distinctly how-did-I-get-saddled-with-this? look, then glanced to Yuri, who was subtly but steadily keeping an eye on his personal effects. The man had certainly gotten more than he had bargained for on the evening's excursion. Maybe Kotetsu wanted to talk to him privately; maybe he just wanted to spare him the burden of sharing an apartment with three strangers instead of one while he made repairs to his current disheveled state.

"That's fine," said Barnaby. "I'm sure Kaede would enjoy a customized tour."

"Exactly!" said Kotetsu. Before he could enthuse further, Kaede burst from the bathroom at a run.

"Okay, I'm ready!" she said, almost shouted, dashing the length of the apartment to where Barnaby stood. "Mr. Barnaby, are you ready to go?"

"Of course," he replied, now with the genial smile that was as much a part of his image as his glasses and his curls. "I'm sure your father and Yuri will be fine without us for a while."

Kaede nodded enthusiastically and Barnaby was just turning to go when Yuri very softly said, "Kaede."

The room seemed to freeze. Kaede looked apprehensive but at least, Yuri noticed, not frightened. "Mr. Yuri?"

"Kaede, I'm sorry. I lost my temper. I apologize."

Kaede shook her head. "It's okay. I know you didn't mean it. And--" she quickly looked to Kotetsu "--I can tell Mr. Barnaby, right?"

Kotetsu nodded. "But just Barnaby. Nobody else."

Kaede's look said, _Well, of COURSE,_ and she turned back--to Yuri. "Mr. Yuri, you have a really cool power. You'd be a great Hero."

Yuri's mouth opened, but no words emerged. Barnaby stared at him. Without thinking, he said, "You're a NEXT?"

But it was Kaede who answered, "Yes! He does fire just like Lunatic's! It's so cool!"

At which point Yuri very gracelessly collapsed onto Kotetsu's couch and rested his face on his crossed arms.

* * * * *

Yuri didn't notice reality again until the couch shifted under him as Kotetsu sat on an adjacent cushion. "Sorry about that," he finally said. "I guess Lunatic's shown up on Hero TV so much he seems like part of the team."

Yuri thought about Benoit Depardieu and reflected that if a man who had eluded the authorities for so long hadn't grasped that Lunatic wasn't a Hero, it was a bit much to ask of a starry-eyed ten-year-old. "Yes," he said at last. "I do see what you mean." He finally, slowly, sat up. "I don't want to impose. Maybe you should--" he tilted his head, trying to see under Kotetsu's hair "--put something on that wound before I commandeer your bathroom. This is going to take a while."

Kotetsu shook his head, grinning once more. "Nah, it's nothing. Stuff like this happens all the time. I'll get changed and maybe tidy up a bit. You take as long as you need."

Yuri nodded. It seemed to cost him extra effort to get to his feet. He glanced back at the couch cushion, which appeared to have suffered no ill effects from his contact with it, then picked up his box and headed for the door where he'd seen Kaede emerge.

He dreaded looking at himself in the mirror. Independent of what the night's adventures might have done to his makeup, the thought of wearing Wild Tiger's mask and Kotetsu's cap was just ... bizarre. No point in putting it off, however. Yes, he _did_ look ridiculous. But between the cap and its bill, the mask, and his hair (still sticking a good bit to his right cheek), his face looked presentable.

Time to fix that.

* * * * *

"Yuri! Wow, you look great!"

It was most of an hour later, and even by his own lights, Yuri did. Application of a hair dryer and makeup, plus a complete change of clothing (into a suit identical to the other one), had restored him to his usual impeccably groomed appearance.

"I'm afraid I got concealer on your cap and mask," he said, presenting these items with his free hand. (His box of personal effects was under the other arm.) "You'll probably want to launder them."

Kotetsu grinned. "Don't worry about it. I've got extras. Just put 'em anywhere."

Yuri laid the items on an end table, settled his box beside it and himself on the couch beside that. A moment later Kotetsu brought a steaming cup and set it near Yuri's elbow.

"Here. I was about to have some hot cocoa, but I'd like to go on and--well, you're right, I need to put something on that wound, because, y'know--don't want it bleeding some more on my face and getting my hair stuck on it. This'll get cold by the time I'm back. You have it."

The man was almost comically earnest and completely untruthful. Yuri smiled. "Kotetsu, you're a terrible liar. And I think," he added, picking up the cup, "that's something I like about you."

"Well--heh--"

"By the way--" and Yuri nodded toward the cup, mask, and hat collectively "--thanks."

"Ah, you're welcome." Kotetsu rubbed the back of his head self-consciously. "Well, I'll see you in a few minutes. Look around or whatever."

Yuri looked into his cup of cocoa and nearly laughed. Of _course_ Kotetsu would have the kind with marshmallows.

Normally Yuri would indeed have looked around, whether on general principles or on the chance Lunatic would need to know more, one day. As it was, it felt good to simply be off his feet, dry, and properly attired. The cocoa was the very cheapest instant kind, but it went down warm and sweet. Yuri was still nursing it when Kotetsu reappeared and, to his surprise, made a detour through the kitchen, then settled on the couch with his own cup of cocoa.

_You mean he wasn't lying?_

"Yuri, you were fantastic tonight! I couldn't believe it! I didn't say anything on the roof because I was more concerned about Kaede, but that was amazing. I never--" Kotetsu paused, shaking his head. "I mean, I had no idea you were a NEXT! And the way you just stepped in front of us like that, when that water would have washed us right off, and if we hadn't drowned it would have been impact on the street...."

"I'm glad I was there."

"So am I. And with Kaede! Yuri, you are _great_ with kids! You're a real cheerleader." After a pause: "You, uh--you don't have kids, do you?"

Yuri shook his head.

"Well, you'd be a fantastic dad! Kaede thinks you're cool." His smile drooped a little. "It took that whole business with Maverick's robots before she thought I was cool."

"She thinks my power is cool. I doubt she finds me to be of much interest."

"It is a cool power." Kotetsu fiddled with his cup uncomfortably. "I guess you'd rather people didn't know about your being a NEXT."

"You'd guess correctly. And before you ask, I don't mind that you gave Kaede leave to tell Barnaby. Not doing so would be quite a burden for her."

Kotetsu gave Yuri one of his trademark grins. "Yeah. Isn't she great? She was really brave. Smart, too. I still can't get used to the idea that she's a NEXT. Her power showed up pretty recently, but just like that--" he snapped his fingers "--she realized she could use it and help you. When she grows up, she's going to outshine her old man."

Yuri charitably refrained from observing that that would be an unremarkable achievement.

After silence of a duration that Yuri had come to consider unusual for his host, Kotetsu said, "Do you mind if I ask why you don't want people to know? It's not like back when I was a kid." After another silence he said, "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it."

Yuri set down his empty cup and rested his head against the back of the couch, closing his eyes. "Good."

Another long silence, then: "You like kids, don't you?"

The question took Yuri entirely unawares, so much so that he raised his head and opened his eyes. "I don't know that I have an opinion on the matter."

"You didn't want to hurt Kaede."

"Of course I didn't!" Yuri glared at Kotetsu, then crossed his arms and looked down, scowling. "One doesn't have to _like_ children to refrain from abusing them." After a couple of breaths he added, "I'm sorry I came so damned close to it."

"Yuri, you've been through enough today to explain it if you went medieval on the entire Justice Bureau. You lose your job over something that's not even your fault, and then when I take you out to unwind, we get taken hostage and nearly killed. Hell, I'd understand if you got in a few licks on me just for that."

"I will allow that the idea has a certain appeal--" Yuri shook his head. "But you weren't to blame." Then, with eyes closed: "Neither was Kaede. She was trying to help. She didn't--" He shook his head again. "Actually, I'd understand if you wanted to inflict some damage on me for threatening your daughter. I could have--"

"But Yuri, you didn't. I saw you pull that punch. I mean, yeah, if it had landed, I probably would have beaten you to a bloody pulp."

"Even at the risk of becoming a charcoal briquette yourself?"

"Nah. You're not somebody who'd do that."

Yuri looked at him, then looked away. "Well, aren't you a good judge of character."

"I think I am. And I'd trust you with Kaede anytime." The look that Yuri gave him made Kotetsu laugh. "You're probably going to give me the silent treatment again, but I'll ask anyway. What's under the makeup?"

"Scarring. It's ... rather extensive."

"Huh." Kotetsu cocked his head. "From your power?"

Yuri nodded.

"Don't you worry about--I mean, doesn't it ever come off?"

"Not ordinarily. It's not my habit to patronize saunas. I had not anticipated that you would be taking me to one tonight."

"Yeah, me neither." After a few moments' thoughtful contemplation: "I wish Lunatic could meet you."

This came from even further in left field than the remark about liking children, and Yuri finally stammered, "Why?"

"Oh, not like that! I mean, you've got a power like his, and you were using it to save people. NEXT powers are for helping people, not hurting them. I'd tell that to Lunatic if he'd just stay and listen. Bastard takes off like a rocket anytime somebody catches up to him."

 _Perhaps he doesn't appreciate your bombast._ Aloud, Yuri said, "I don't know why you think he'd listen to me."

"Well, like I say, it's the same power. I mean, it looks the same." Kotetsu realized that he hadn't seen Yuri fly or use the lightning-fast reflexes that were another of Lunatic's trademarks. "And I think he's an okay guy, somewhere under that stupid mask."

Yuri overlooked the insult to the mask. "And why would you think that?"

"Because he saved me once." Kotetsu pressed his lips together. "They wouldn't let me talk about it on the interviews. Said it would ruin my image and make things complicated for Hero TV. Agnes actually threatened to rip out my chest hairs if I said one good word about Lunatic." 

Yuri knew Agnes Joubert well enough to find it credible not only that she would make such a threat, but that she would carry it out. 

"But when that fake Wild Tiger was after me," Kotetsu continued, "Lunatic saved my bacon. He was spouting his usual crappy lines about justice, but he gave me some good advice too. And that's why..." Kotetsu paused, apparently having trouble framing just what to say about his antagonist-cum-savior. "That's why I wish he'd understand. He can use his power to save people, so why doesn't he?"

Yuri was silent for a long time. Finally, and rather softly, he said, "I think, if anyone asked Lunatic, he would say that his flames do save lives. He has a record of selecting people who have killed before, either by their own hand or by proxy, like Maverick, and they would go on to kill again if Lunatic's flames didn't bring their murdering to an end."

Kotetsu looked disturbed. "You're not defending him, are you? Because he's ... well, he kills people!"

"I was only presenting his side, or what might be his side. That's what we do in court, Kotetsu. We give both sides a hearing."

Kotetsu smiled. "I guess you really are a judge after all."

"Not any more. But I do still believe in justice." _I'm not saying whose._ "And--" Yuri's lips quirked in a brief grin "--perhaps, if I ever encounter Lunatic, I could relay your message."

Kotetsu chuckled. "Hey, whaddaya say we catch up to Barnaby and Kaede at Barnaby's place? Now that he's got the whole scoop, Bunny'll probably want to thank you for saving us."

More from habit than from concern, Yuri glanced at his watch. Observing this, Kotetsu said, "Is it a problem? Do you need to take care of your mom?"

"No. I mean, I often work later than this. She won't be surprised, whatever time I come home." _She won't even know whether it's me or Papa._

"You sure? Sometimes I had to buy off Tomoe when I worked weird hours." At Yuri's look, Kotetsu laughed self-consciously. "I don't mean I _really_ had to buy her off. She wanted me to keep being a Hero. I just felt bad about leaving her alone so much. Hey, why don't you get something for your mom while we're out sightseeing? I bet it'll make her feel better about your losing your job."

The incongruity of the last statement vis-à-vis reality defied Yuri's ability to formulate a mental riposte. It did, however, start some seldom-used wheels turning. Between his work and his mother's insanity, Yuri's concerns had narrowed to bare necessities: job, Lunatic, food, clothing, and the occasional stint of yard work or interior maintenance. Gifts, special occasions ... they weren't part of the Petrov household. Too likely to precipitate mishaps. Still...

"Perhaps I should," he murmured. "It would be a refreshing change."

"No 'perhaps' about it. What does she like?"

This was even harder to respond to than Kotetsu's previous speculation. "She's ... difficult to buy for."

"I bet she likes flowers. _Everybody_ likes flowers. Even guys like flowers."

For a brief and hallucinatory moment, Yuri had a mental image of presenting Albert Maverick with a huge bouquet. When the image of Maverick morphed into Mr. Legend, he drew a quick, pained breath. _Not now notnow NOTNOW--_

"Uh, Yuri? Sorry. I mean, if you're allergic to flowers it's--"

"No, no--I'm sure Mama would enjoy them. We can drop by a florist at your convenience."

* * * * *

Kaede was unhappy. She'd had an hour to herself with her idol in his den, and had related an amazing adventure in which she'd played an important role, but when she'd been fixing herself up at Kotetsu's, she'd forgotten to replace the scarf that had been tied around the base of her ponytail. Kotetsu and Barnaby assured her that she looked fine without it, and Yuri saw nothing untoward in her appearance, but for her it was clearly the sort of small detail that could color more important things with its loss.

"That one was all wet anyway," Kotetsu told her. "We can get you another one tonight, if you like."

This yielded a litany of reasons it was difficult to find _exactly_ the right scarf. While Kotetsu surrendered himself to a primer on fashion essentials for young ladies, Barnaby and Yuri retired to the picture window and its cityscape.

"Thank you for saving Kotetsu and Kaede," Barnaby said. "When Kotetsu invited you to come with us, without any warning ... it seemed a little odd. But it's a good thing you came. I'd never have forgiven myself if anything happened to them. I feel so irresponsible now."

"You needn't. You couldn't have known the NEXT was going to make us the focus of such an effort."

"No, I guess not. But I couldn't find that NEXT, and it didn't even occur to me that Kotetsu might not have gotten you to safety."

"It's not as if you could have done anything." Yuri said this as gently as he could.

Barnaby sighed. "I could have gotten all of you further away, faster. It just never occurred..."

"Don't blame yourself. If you'd done that, others likely would have been taken hostage, and likely wouldn't have fared as well. In any case, we're all safe now. Did ... have you and Kaede discussed ... where else to go tonight?"

Barnaby looked to the other end of the room. "I think it's going to involve scarves."


	5. And to All a Good Night

Although she hadn't been a resident of Stern Bild since she was much too young for picking out her own scarves, Kaede knew the names of the stores where All The Right People bought their accessories. Yuri wondered what in the world he was going to do while Kaede went scarf-shopping, and he got his answer only two doors from the galleria entrance.

There was a florist's.

"I'll just stop here, if you don't mind," he told the others. Kotetsu grinned and winked; Barnaby looked puzzled but amiable. Kaede was several lengths in the lead, glanced back, and called, "Okay!" as she waved to him.

Yuri had already made up his mind that he was going to buy an enormous bouquet of white roses. Even absent their florilingual significance--purity, silence, "I am worthy of you"--he considered them beautiful for their combination of stark shade and soft shape. If he got enough of them, he'd have an excuse for using a vase too heavy for his mother to throw.

Yuri liked it when purity of motive had practical side effects.

The woman minding the counter, who wore a large red flower over one ear, told him the shop didn't have such a bouquet at the ready, but white roses were in stock, and the order could be assembled while the gentleman waited, if he wished? Yuri was agreeable. He found the florist's restful, the right angles and gold trim of its glass display cases a pleasing counterpoint to the riot of colors in vases and baskets. Gazing to the work area beyond the counter, he noticed that all the staff wore floral hair ornaments of one sort or another. He'd been in Stern Bild long enough to see it for the subtle marketing it was--so much in Stern Bild was one or another sort of marketing--but couldn't find it in himself to be annoyed. He knew most employees in retail worked long hours, often in less than ideal conditions, and if something as simple as a hair ornament made their workplace a little brighter--well, let them do a bit of marketing.

"Mr. Yuri!" It was Kaede, entering the store at a run, almost in tears.

"Kaede--what's wrong? Did something happen to your father?"

"No! My _father_ happened to Stern Bildtique! He put his arm RIGHT THROUGH the jewelry counter! I can never go in there again!"

"Oh dear," murmured Yuri, even while thinking, _Now, why am I not surprised?_ "He wasn't hurt, was he?"

"I don't care if he was! I can't believe anybody could do something so stupid!"

 _I can._ Aloud, Yuri said, "I suppose it's a case of old habits dying hard. Kaede, I am sorry. Surely we can find you a scarf elsewhere."

"There's nowhere like Stern Bildtique!" 

Yuri let Kaede's invective flow unfettered for a few sentences--anyone related to Kotetsu Kaburagi needed an opportunity to vent--but finally interrupted with "Here, here, calm down. I'm sure we can mend things somehow."

Kaede sighed. "Didn't you find any flowers you liked?"

"They're putting my order together right now. It'll be just a few minutes."

Having gotten the rawest of her emotions out of her system, Kaede began taking notice of her surroundings. A display of single orchids was not far above her eye level, and she studied it. "These are pretty."

"They're all pretty," said Yuri, and as he glanced from Kaede to the women working behind the counter (some of whom had clearly just gotten their evening's entertainment), something clicked. "Kaede..."

"Mr. Yuri?"

"Do you think you'd like a flower in your hair, instead of a scarf?"

The suggestion was completely unexpected--on both their parts--and as Kaede hesitated, Yuri filled in the obvious gap: "I'll get you one, if you'd like."

"Oh!" She glanced from Yuri to the orchids and back several times. "Yes, please! This one?" She pointed to a frilly white flower with a few candy-apple-red marks in the center. "Except I don't know how to make it stay in."

"Let's ask one of the ladies to help."

Some floral tape and a hairpin later, Kaede was stylishly accoutered with a live orchid that would, according to the sales staff, last for a few days if properly cared for. (Only a very few, since its stem was completely taped over, to prevent sap from leaking onto the wearer.) Of course the saleslady told Kaede how lovely she looked, but Kaede glanced around unhappily. "Isn't there a mirror in here?"

* * * * *

The one thing that had gone right at Stern Bildtique, Kotetsu reflected as he left the premises, never to return, was that Yuri hadn't been there. He'd never seen Yuri laugh, but he could easily imagine that reaction to this latest misadventure. On second thought, maybe Yuri would have yawned, having heard enough about Wild Tiger's acts of destruction to be bored of them by now. And to add insult to injury, his own daughter had said, "I'm going to see Mr. Yuri! He knows how to behave in public!" Well, Yuri did know how to behave in public, but it's not like he was the only one. Kotetsu knew how to behave. The knowledge just didn't always make its way into his body before other things happened.

What he'd told Yuri earlier was true, however: Kotetsu knew Kaede was safe with him. He was sure she'd gone directly to the florist's, where Yuri was probably telling her how her Daddy had broken more significant things than jewelers' cases on any number of occasions. In front of the florist's display window, Kotetsu hesitated--and as Barnaby started to walk past, the former Wild Tiger flung out an arm, effectively clotheslining his partner in the gut.

Barnaby gasped. "What was that f--?"

Kotetsu was pointing through the window. Beyond and between the various glass cases, they had a clear view of the counter, where Kaede and Yuri were standing, Kaede with a flower that definitely hadn't been in her hair earlier. Yuri was digging in his coat pocket and finally pulled out something--a mirror that he handed to Kaede, who looked in it and practically bounced up and down, then flung herself onto Yuri in a hug. Yuri's "Hey!" was audible through the glass.

Kotetsu started laughing. "When I told Yuri everybody liked flowers, I didn't think he'd take this direction with it. Well, I guess we don't have to worry about scarves for the moment."

"I guess not," Barnaby murmured, as he followed Kotetsu into the shop. Yuri was retrieving his mirror and whispering something in Kaede's ear that made her gasp and blush. Seeing Kotetsu, she dashed toward him.

Kotetsu grinned at her. "So, Kaede, who's your boyfriend?"

For an answer, Kaede grabbed his little finger and gave it a hard sideward yank that elicited a yell of pain. "I'm going to the women's room!"

Yuri watched Kotetsu nursing his hand and found himself, for the first time in his life, mentally applauding an act of domestic violence. 

"Here are your roses, sir," said the woman at the counter. She was trying not to laugh, with only moderate success.

"Thank you."

Even though he basically considered Yuri trustworthy, Barnaby couldn't help wondering about Kaede's reaction just before they'd parted. As the three headed out of the florist's, Kotetsu still rubbing his hand, Barnaby asked, "Yuri, what did you say to her?"

Sotto voce, Yuri replied, "'Go and touch your father before you set something on fire.'"

* * * * *

Yuri had spent his share of nights seeing Stern Bild from one perspective or another--sometimes his office window, sometimes Lunatic's aerial view--but the perspective of a sightseer was a new one to him. The soundtrack wasn't bad, either: The business towers that ringed the Justice Tower inspired anecdotes from Kotetsu of Heroes past and present, and Barnaby explained the symbolism of the company names and of the figure topping each of the great structures. Yuri added an occasional footnote to the latter (or refrained; he was amused by the irony of Kronos Foods being named for a mythological figure known for having devoured his own children, but it didn't seem quite the thing to tell Kaede); mostly, however, he held silence and drank it all in. _All,_ as in the whole experience. The sights, yes: the statues and fountains; the lights, the darkness, the architecture old and new, the people passing. But also Kotetsu's jokes, however corny or stale; Barnaby's equanimity, suffused as it was with a quiet joy feeding from springs Yuri could only begin to guess at; Kaede's excitement and playfulness, her willingness to include him in her observations and questions even as she kept her physical distance (sensible girl).

Even a round of sugar- and caffeine-laced vending machine drinks, however, went only so far toward counteracting the effects of the lateness of the hour and the exertions they'd all been through. Even Kaede didn't really protest when Kotetsu announced it was time for everybody to pile in before the coach turned into a pumpkin. The bundle of roses was too big to hold comfortably on his lap, and Yuri let it rest on the floor. Kaede was silent, her fatigue having finally overcome even her admiration for Barnaby. Apparently Kotetsu had run out of words also, but after a few minutes, he turned on the radio, punching buttons until music emerged. The station was playing oldies that night, and Yuri found himself savoring lyrics about pretty blue lights and wondering why the street lamps were the wrong color. Next thing he knew they were stationary again and Kotetsu was poking him.

"Yuri! Come on, wake up. You look really cute like that, but it's bad for your neck."

Yuri blinked and tried to sit up. Kotetsu was right. Not for the first time that evening, his neck felt awful.

"Sorry," he murmured, unfastening his seat belt. "Guess it's been a long evening."

"But we had fun, didn't we?"

It took a little coordination to get himself and his bouquet out, but he managed. "Yes. Yes, we did. Thank you." Kaede and Barnaby had already gotten out, and by the time Yuri got there, Kotetsu was also behind the vehicle, waiting for him.

"I guess this is it." Kotetsu was smiling, but it was not one of his more effervescent smiles. It was nostalgic, Yuri supposed, not realizing he wore much the same expression.

"Yes," said Yuri. "Thank you for having me. I--well--thank you." And because there was nothing else to say, he extended his hand.

Kotetsu took it with a firm grip. "You're a great guy. Maybe we can do this again sometime."

Yuri waited for a mental rejoinder of _Maybe not,_ but the portion of his mind in charge of such things apparently had taken note of the hour's lateness and retired. 

Barnaby took his hand next. "Thank you again."

"It's been a pleasure. Truly."

Kaede was still holding Kotetsu's hand with her left as she shook Yuri's with her right, and she held on even after Yuri had released his grip. "Daddy, if I touch two NEXTs at the same time, do you think I'll get two powers?"

Yuri pulled his hand away. "Please, Kaede. If you try that, start with a power more innocuous than mine."

Kaede looked crestfallen, but only for a moment. Then, smiling: "Okay." Still holding Kotetsu's hand, she yawned, and Yuri breathed a sigh of relief. At least she wouldn't try that experiment _immediately._

The orchid still looked pretty. Yuri hoped she'd remember to put it in the refrigerator.

The streets were quiet, and so was the house when Yuri arrived. His mother usually didn't wait up for him on nights when he came home at past-the-pumpkin hours. The heavy vase was in the third cabinet he tried, and not _very_ dusty. Once he'd arranged the roses to his satisfaction, he put them in place of the red silk flowers that usually graced the dining table.

It was so late. Yuri hastily spread out his still-wet clothes on one or another article of furniture, exchanged his suit for pajamas, undid his hair, and practically dove under the covers. He wondered if he'd fall asleep when his head hit the pillow but didn't stay awake long enough to find out.

Blue flames suffused Yuri's dreams that night. They defied earth and water, air and any lesser fire, sweeping over Stern Bild, melting the highways and toppling the great towers, leaving screams and piles of ash in their wake. But when the smoke had cleared, three figures remained untouched, and one of them had a flower in her hair.


End file.
